Powerball drawing yields no winner; jackpot climbs to $510 million

ByCNN

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Here we go again. After Wednesday night's Powerball drawing yielded no jackpot winners, the prize climbed from $430 million to a gargantuan $510 million.

The numbers drawn Wednesday were 9, 15, 43, 60, 64 and the Powerball was 4.

The grand prize pool has been growing since June 10 -- meaning there have been 19 straight drawings with no winner.

The current jackpot would be the 8th largest U.S. lottery prize of all time.

Since there was still no winner after Wednesday's numbers were drawn, the payout will continue to climb until the next drawing on Saturday.

There's always been long odds for Powerball, but it recently became more difficult thanks to an October 2015 rule change. Currently, a player's chances to pick six winning numbers stand at about one in 292 million. That's why there's been so many eye-popping Powerball prizes up for grabs in recent months.

The largest ever was the $1.6 billion grand prize snagged by three winning tickets on January 13, 2016. And there have been two other Powerball jackpots that have passed the $400 million mark so far in 2017. A $448 million prize was claimed in June and a $435 million jackpot was won in February.

But don't be fooled by the massive sticker price of these jackpots. Winners only receive close to the advertised amount if they choose to receive payments spread out over 29 years.

If a winner opts for a lump-sum, the payout is significantly less. For a $430 million jackpot, for example, the cash value is $273 million. And, of course, no matter how winners choose to get their money, they'll still have to pay hefty tax bills.

Powerball is played in 44 states plus D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Current Powerball climbs into list of 10 biggest lottery wins in U.S. history

Powerball Jackpot-Top 10 largest US Jackpots

An estimated jackpot of $510 million is up for grabs in the Powerball lottery draw on Saturday night - potentially the 8th largest lottery payout in the nation. Here's a look at the 10 largest U.S. jackpots so far and the states where the winning tickets were sold:

1. $1.6 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

2. $656 million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2012 (three tickets, from Kansas, Illinois and Maryland)

3. $648 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 17, 2013 (two tickets, from California and Georgia)

4. $590.5 million, Powerball, May 18, 2013 (one ticket, from Florida)

5. $587.5 million, Powerball, Nov. 28, 2012 (two tickets, from Arizona and Missouri)

6. $564.1 million, Powerball, Feb. 11, 2015 (three tickets, from North Carolina, Puerto Rico and Texas)

7. $536 million, Mega Millions, July 8, 2016 (one ticket, from Indiana)

8. $487 million, Powerball, July 30, 2016 (one ticket, from New Hampshire)

9. $448.4 million, Powerball, Aug. 7, 2013 (three tickets, one from Minnesota and two from New Jersey)

10. $447.8 million, Powerball, June 10, 2017, (one ticket, from California)

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